These clerks show that you can make a LOT of mistakes and still beat a robber if you do some of the most important things right! Hopefully this video makes us all consider our plan to supplement our attitude and skills.

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What does this video teach us about defending ourselves against robbers?

Transitional spaces are places where we MUST be more careful of potential attack. A transitional space is any location that (1) allows attackers to prey on potential victims with an element of surprise and (2) provides ready escape for the attackers.

One of the factors we see in injury to victims of crime is half-hearted resistance or half-hearted compliance. This amounts to an ego check or a will check of the armed robber to see if they really mean what they say they mean, and while that’s normal for people to do, it gets a lot of people hurt. Either comply fully with the criminals’ demands, or resist with everything you have to overwhelm the attacker and end the threat. Don’t go half-way. I like that these clerks went ALL IN on their defense. It was probably the key to their victory!

Successful self-defense against many attacks involves a counter-ambush, where the victim finds the right opportunity to seize the initiative from the attacker and launch an ambush of their own. That involves thinking and knowing your own strengths and skill set, and being ready to strike the attacker when your opportunity for counter-ambush comes. It also means not allowing the attacker to see that attack until it’s launched. The second clerk did a good job of launching a counter-ambush to turn the tide against the robber.

As a self-defender, you need to know when your firearm is a good tool and when it is not a good tool. If a threat rises to deadly the firearm can be an appropriate response, but you must know as a self-defender that the threat can come down from a deadly threat to a non-deadly one as well. If that happens you need to be ready to put your firearm away safely so that your response to the existing threat is proportional and reasonable at all times. This means having a solid understanding of your force options and having more than firearm skills.

If you have a firearm out, distance is your friend. A firearm has a functionally infinite range in a deadly force encounter. (yes, I know, that’s not 100% true…for the purposes of a self-defense fight, it is functionally true) If you are at contact distance to someone you have a firearm aimed at, you give them the ability to fight you for your firearm and negate the advantage you have. Therefore, if you have a gun on someone, stay out of range of their hands if at all possible! That was the biggest mistake these clerks made; they got their firearms too close to the robber.

There are 3 additional lessons for Patron Members and 3 class starters for Instructors from this video, so please join us in those programs to see them!

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